It is hilarious that after all these years the UK fan base is still obsessed with Pitino!! You people seem to hang on every word he says. It’s kind of sad and pathetic, really!!
Fact is Pitino has ALWAYS spoke of UK with the utmost respect and class! Can any of you name an incident when he hasn’t? All the HATE is on your side, not his!!

#6 It is obvious, that Charlie was referring to the Passion fans have for the Basketball team….How much support did you guys give your Football team this year??? How many showed up for the Vandy and Samford games?? Less than 20,000!!!! LMFAO!!!!!!

12- Don’t think you douche bags have any room to talk. Now I know you all have short term memory loss. But you remember, oh let’s say about, hmmm, a few years ago when you had a certain coach named Kragthorpe. ul’s avg attendance THE WHOLE YEAR was just under 29K. Moron.

Pitino will always a Wildcat… Everyone needs to remember the shape the program was before Pitino and on probation. Maybe Pitino was embarassed the way the program was with Tubby and BCG is the only reason he beat them. Thanks Rick I always knew you were on our side…

When we got Cal, I stopped hating on Pitino. Let it go, Uk was good for pitino and he was.good for us. He is responsible for 2 of our championships and 4 final 4’s. Its like after a few years you can be “friends” with your ex and your feel better for it.

11 I agree let him be. Enjoy the rivalry and give him the respect he deserves bringing a quality team for us to compete with. We’ve won the last four with Cal, have a great team that will give us a chance to win tomorrow and after 10 games with Cal will probably win 9.

There is absolutely no reason to hate Pitino this much. He saved the UK program from the sewers. He then made it what it is today. He took advantage of modern marketing and sold the full package to recruits. He made it desirable again. In fact it is his image of UK which Calipari was attracted to years ago and how he knew what was possible if he was ever asked to be the coach. The fans are what make this program unique. I understand that, but Pitino I believe was the first person to harness the fanbase, the history and the resources to such a level as he did. You always wonder about the next level no matter profession you are in. Yes we would have won many more championships if Rick had stayed another 10 years and it hurt when he left, but he has already said it was the biggest mistake he EVER made on multiple occasions. What more do you want?

#22, I salute you. I’ve been preaching the same sermon for years and every time I do, the rednecks come out and make an ass out of themselves. I wasn’t happy when he left but I understood. After the Sutton fiasco, he saved us, plain and simple. Give him his due!!

C.M. Newton saved us. He brought respectability back to the program. If Rick hadn’t have come, another big name coach would have, maybe even Coach K, who loved C.M.

That being said, Pitino is the man who was in charge during an awesome period for UK fans. So many amazing memories under his watch. The way we just beat down opponents in the NCAA, rather than surviving (cough, Tubby, cough). The come from behind wins, the last second wins…all possible because he had his players believing they could pull it off. I don’t respect his decision to coach Louisville, but it’s his life and his decision, not mine. He loved living here and wanted to come back.

#23 to say Tubby Smith did not do anything for Cats is simply absurd. I do not care if they were Pitino’s players, I do remember 1997 team was more talented yet could not secure our second straight national title. 1998 team was basically a leftover from the previous two season, and Tubby was able to remove the DEVILED monkey off our back from 1992. He was able to beat DUKE on a national stage. A team that had far greater talent than the one we fielded that year. If you did not like Tubby Smith as a coach that is fine but to give a credit to guy who did not work sideline that is kind of ignorant.

to all the polarized fans: it’s a basketball game, a very important game to both team’s fans, but still, that’s all it is. a basketball game. please remember what’s important – your family, your friends, the people you have been kind to and the people who have been kind to you, regardless of who they cheer for. sorry to be so sappy, might just be be Christmas spirits wishes three days past, but i hope for health and happiness to all the players, no matter the winner. may we meet again in march.

one more thing – Aldolph Rupp passed away on December tenth, 1977. If KSR acknowledged his departure, i missed it. At any rate, Uncle Aldolph, I hope you see another win tomorrow.

I don’t know- he has quite a different experience then the rest of us concerning Louisville and Kentucky. He’s not from the state. He didn’t grow up a fan of one or the other. He then coached UK to a national championship. I wouldn’t be surprised if he roots for UK when they aren’t playing UL.

As a true Kentucky fan I really liked the pitino years, he gave us hope for the future, he brought us back to life. Even though his decision to leave did not fit well with all the ky fans, I as one understand, it is about the money.80 mil. What would anyone do………RUN and FAST.didn’t work out that well,so get as close physically to Camelot as possible. I don’t despise or dislike him for going to Louisville. He’ll he made it interesting. Just really glad he made his other mistakes there instead of here. Still a pitino fan just not a Louisville fan.

11, 22, 30, et al; count me in your column. You said it great and better than I could have. We’ll always owe RP a great debt of gratitude and I’ll never understand why we have fans that don’t appreciate what he did for UK.

Yeah, he rooted for Pelphrey and Ford to replace BCG too. That was so he could intimidate them when they played and kew they would not provide the caliber competition that Cal does. He knows who is # 1 in this state….Coach Cal, and it is killing him.

To everybody hating on Rick Pitino, please just stop with the put downs and bad comments about the man. I am a 3rd generation UK fan, being 43 I’ve watched ALOT of games and I can honestly say that the true Cats fans don’t feel this way. The guy took over a program that was on probation, brought us back to our rightful place in basketball history , as the winningest program in CBB history. This guy WAS UK and brought winning and top notch recruits back to KY. Mike K was never coming here, nor was he wanted here. Talking to my dad the other day, he was like , boy that Cal can recruit, but he’s not half the COACH that Pitino is. He has a point. While I live Cal for what he’s done, he wins with superior talent. Pitino can take five slow white guys and get them into the tournament year in, year out. Rick, as a true fan who bleeds BLUE, I wish you the best for what you did for our program. And hope you win the games you’re coaching , as long as its not against Ky:) GO BIG BLUE!

I hope he does, why wouldn’t he. I will always bleed KY blue, but I cheer for Louisville and the other Kentucky programs too (except when they play us of course). Coach Pitino revived our dying program. If you don’t think so, you don’t know much about our program. Love nothing better than a UK/UL championship.

33 – I’m glad you can tell whether or not myself and others are true Cat fans based on my current opinion of Rick Pitino when you know nothing at all about how much time, effort, and money I have donated to UK Athletics and UK itself. Just because someone has a different opinion than you does not make them any less of a fan. I wish you and a few others would understand that. In that same vein, it also does not matter how old you are as to how big a fan you are.

#33 I do agree right now, Pitino is a better coach than Cal. This is not a horrible thing as I see Cal improving every single day and it is just as much fun to watch him develop as a coach as it is to watch the players progress. I also think it is interesting to think of the position Pitino was put in when the Celtics came calling. He was given complete control and the Celtics had the highest likelihood of landing the #1 pick which was going to be Duncan I believe (correct me if I am wrong). Then they also had two other picks inside the top 11 maybe? Something like that. Also for him I believe the job as head coach of the Celtics would be what the UK job would be to any one of us on this board. If any of us were offered the UK job we would leave whatever we were currently doing in a heartbeat. I think it was literally the only position and unique situation in which he leaves UK. We were going to be a dynasty under Rick. It is that simple. If he had not given into pressure and played the best player on the floor at the time (Derek Anderson) in the final in ’97, we would have won three in a row.

It has also been said that the ’98 team would not have won anything except Shepperd went to Tubby and asked if they could open things up more and run the ball and shoot threes the way they did under Pitino. This is when the team went on that streak and started beating everyone. I also think it is a compliment to the state of KY that Pitino wanted to move back and take the job. *shrugs*

@catsrule im 47, watched a lot of u.k. b ball, i bleed blue and while i respect what he did for us, i dont respect him one tiny bit as the person he is. he is a good coach, but not sure about the five white guys remark. remember our unforgetables had woods and mash. he is good but not that good. also, do you suppose ky. was as good for him as he was for ky? what has he done at loserville the last 10 years? just sayn.

@john. Not doubting how much money you have donated or any of that. And my age does not reflect anything except that I’m old enought to appreciate alot that has happened at UK since I’ve been old enough to watch UK and listen to Cawood. And as a Donor to the program , I would think you of all people can and would appreciate what the guy did for our program. As a supporter of the university I’m sure it was nice to come off of probation with a plan to win, which he did ALOT. All I’m saying is quit hassling the guy, he made a mistake, he admits the biggest of his career. In sure he loves UK, and the state of Kentucky, or he wouldn’t have spent 20 year of his life here. All I’m saying is its wrong to crucify the guy, thank him for what he did for UK, dislike him for going to UofL(which I do) and thank god he didnt go to Indiana!

@bigcat. I agree with you on alot of what you said. We did alot for him, and vice versa. There’s an old saying about the name “on the front of the uniform” and playing for pride and school . He took recruiting to a new level at UK, brought in big recruits from far away as New Jersey , and took us back to prominence. But he also sold them on team play, I’ve never saw any teams play better d than the ones he coached at UK . But I will say he has and never will get the recruits at UofL that Cal will at UK . I m saying I’m old enough to remember the good and bad times , he brought us alot of good and bad. Most people who have a chance to make more money at their job could relate with him leaving . I have a problem with him coming back to Kentucky , and coaching loserville. But I will always appreciate him resuscitating a program that needed him as much as he needed it.

SUMMARY: #22 and #23 are completely correct. Read their comments again, and leave emotions aside. Those are the facts.
One more thing: If Cal ever left (which he may…Nets?), I would be so happy to have Pitino back

Won Hun Lo and Won Hung Tuo Lo watch game on computer early Sunday in Japan.
Won Hung Tuo Lo want play basketball UK.
Won Hung Tuo Lo 2.3 meters tall and in grade 7.
He shoot good and assist good, also much rebound.

It kills me to see some of the ignorant posts about a past coach that did nothing but help us. Stop whining about the past and talk about the future with one of the greatest coaches we currently have. We should be greatful with what we have now and forget the past. Some of you so called fans are the reason we true fans get bad names. Grow up